Unfinished during his lifetime and not yet fully restored, the rural villa Thomas Jefferson called Poplar Forest still may be his most perfect architectural work – an idealistic symbol of the balance he sought between man and the natural order. It took a mere fourteen years to complete (compared to Monticello’s...
When the late-19th-century trains of progress began chugging up the slopes of the western North Carolina mountains onto the Asheville plateau, word soon spread that this little mountain village was a latter-day Garden of Eden. Its moderate summers appealed to tourists from the South and its short winters...
When he closes his eyes, North Carolina artist Steve Staresina says he sees images. So he began to paint with acrylics on canvas, back in the early ‘90s. Later, he branched out into working on walls. That led to jobs as an artisan plasterer for architects and interior designers. He took a trip to France,...
Today The Martin Agency is 500 people strong and rapidly on its way to 600. It‘s a magnet for talent and for likeable people. Much of that can be laid at Mike Hughes’ feet, since he may be the most well liked person in Richmond, if not the entire advertising industry. “I’m sure there are […]
If he were a patient man, Mike Hughes might have turned to architecture for a career. Instead, he helped fast-track a small Southern ad agency into a top-tier, nationally-known communications firm. He’s president of The Martin Agency, named 2010 “Agency of the Year” by ADWEEK. That magazine...
Since the 1930s, Preservation North Carolina (PNC) has been striving to protect North Carolina’s architectural history, one building at a time. Remarkably, of the total 702 preservation covenants held by statewide organizations in the U.S., 407 are held by PNC. “We have one of the highest rosters...
At the bottom of Science Hill on the Yale campus in New Haven, on the quad between Prospect Street and Whitney Avenue, across from Eero Saarinen’s 1958 hockey rink, lies one of the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects for 2010. Kroon Hall, home of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, was designed...
On the site of the former Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy gave his final victory speech – and was gunned down only minutes later – a school and park bearing his name now honor the pragmatic idealism that was uniquely his. The Ambassador and its Cocoanut Grove nightclub...
Architect Campion Platt found inspiration for his Mariner Collection of rugs, woven in silk and wool by master rug maker Roubini, from his travel and work in the Turks and Caicos Islands. While designing and developing a community at Ambergris Cay, a 1,100-acre private island there, he began to draw....
Every year at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, Skram Furniture out of Hillsborough, N.C. unveils its new, modern, approachable products to the market. This year is no different, said Skram founder Jacob Marks (that’s Skram spelled backwards) – except for the debut of heavyweight...
